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2013 graduates: 'Don't forget the past'

As they stepped forward to accept their diplomas over the last few weeks, the graduates were reminded by teachers, peers and elders that commencement is not an ending, but a beginning.

The high-school seniors were asked to be patient, never stop learning and to cherish the present as they made the transition to independent adults. And now that the projects have been finished, exams passed and final grades awarded, many students said the last four years went by too quickly.

"Like Jay Gatsby, we look back and wish we could stay," Gettysburg graduate Jack McNally said during his commencement address, referencing the novel, "The Great Gatsby." "But all good things come to an end."

Still, as class-selected speaker Jason Cross, a teacher, advised New Oxford graduates: Don't forget the past, but never be sad that it is over.

"If you look back at this as the best days of your life," he said, "you've wasted an amazing opportunity."

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For at least one of the 94 graduating Hanover seniors, the June commencement ceremony wasn't the first opportunity to march to the strains of "Pomp and Circumstance."

Graduates prepare for the beginning of the Class of 2013's commencement ceremony on June 6 at Hanover High School. (THE EVENING SUN/SHANE DUNLAP)

In May, Juliet Garcia represented Hanover at the graduation ceremony of the Pennsylvania Migrant Education Program in Harrisburg.

Graduate lists

Not only was the 19-year-old among the 100 students in attendance, but she was chosen as one of the five commencement speakers for the event.

In her address to her peers who also studied English as a second language, Garcia described the transition she made one year ago from her school in Mexico to Hanover Public High School.

"There are days when I walk around and I get very frustrated, and I feel a great desire to cry," she explained May 20 at the Pennsylvania State Museum. "I feel like I make no sense, and I feel I do not fit, or just feel out of my habitat. But I have to work toward excellence, no matter how difficult it may be."

Garcia didn't let the difficulties of a new school stand in her way.

She accepted her Hanover diploma June 6 and plans to continue her education at Harrisburg Area Community College in Gettysburg on her way to becoming a doctor.

"I have always been interested in helping people in some way and I think it's a career that will allow me to complete this dream," she said in her May commencement speech. "I know that I can make a difference and I am determined to be successful."

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Despite a natural affinity for math and art, Bermudian grad Kyle Inman said there was one subject that did not come easily to him in high school: Spanish.

To help him succeed in the subject, the 18-year-old formed a tight-knit support group with classmates Remington King and Kyle Jacobs, also among the roughly 140 students who graduated June 7.

Along with Spanish study sessions outside of school, the friends helped each other with calculus, physics and anything else that threw the group a curriculum curve ball.

"By the time I hit that third year, I was achieving A's in Spanish," Inman said, who plans to go after a two-year associate's degree in architectural technology and design. "We pretty much bounced everything off each other."

Though they each have a different post-graduation plans, the three friends know they will stay in touch in the future.

"We've been friends for a long time and we plan on staying that way the rest of our lives," Inman said, as Remington and Jacobs nodded in agreement.

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In the Conewago Valley School District, graduates recalled the important role friends play during times of sadness.

After the death of three fellow sophomores - Diego Aguilar, Anthony Campos and Casey Sheridan - in 2011, many of the 269 graduates from New Oxford High School felt a loss others their age never had to experience. Two other students, Oscar Banda and Chelsea McFalls, also died in the crash.

Honorary degrees are submitted to the families of Casey Sheridan, left, Anthony Campos, center, and Diego Aguilar, right, during New Oxford's graduation ceremony on Friday, June 7, 2013. The three students were juniors when they were killed in a 2011 car crash, and would have graduated with this year's class. (THE EVENING SUN/JEFF LAUTENBERGER)

The seniors felt commencement would not be the same without honoring and remembering the friends they lost in the crash. As the soon-to-be graduates crossed the stage to receive their diplomas June 7, each paused in front of the victims' families to lay a white flower at their feet.

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The graduates at Littlestown Area High School remembered the national catastrophes that helped shape their generation at their June 7 ceremony.

Members of the class of 2013 were in first grade when planes crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, the class president and valedictorian recalled.

"I remember exactly where I was when it happened," Kelsey Lowman said. "We were on the playground."

She also mentioned the devastation and chaos brought on by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and how it influenced her.

"I don't know anybody personally that was hurt by Katrina," she said, "but we still remember it."

The most recent addition to the list of tragedies were the shootings that took the lives of 20 students and six adults last year in Newtown, Conn., said Hunter Zeitler, class vice president.

"We just graduated high school, and those kids didn't even get to middle school," he said. "It kind of gave us the sense to not take life or education for granted."

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Delone Catholic graduates said they know how important it is to take advantage of education, especially when they have the chance to combine academics with spiritual values.

Students file into the gymnasium during Delone Catholic High School's graduation ceremony on May 31, 2013 in McSherrystown. (THE EVENING SUN/JEFF LAUTENBERGER)

The almost 120 students who made up the class of 2013 spent their high school careers attending various religious services during their school day in addition to their usual classes.

"We would be different people if we didn't attend Delone Catholic," said valedictorian Samuel Edwards during the May 31 commencement ceremony.

Salutatorian Therese Deborah La Fleur said she and her mother moved to the McSherrystown area from Virginia specifically so she could attend a Catholic high school.

"I believe I went to Delone Catholic so my faith could be transformed," she said in her graduation speech.

The ability to supplement academics with her religious beliefs gave La Fleur an educational experience that prepared her for life after high school. She encouraged her fellow graduates to keep their faith even in college where time might not be carved out specifically for worship.

"Don't be afraid of your faith," La Fleur said.

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At the Gettysburg graduation, senior Luke Gockowski said he was anything but afraid of his future.

Between the flashes coming from his mother's camera June 4, Gockowski said he was ready to start a new chapter in his life.

"It's really exciting to finally be here, to see your hard work pay off and know you did this, you accomplished this and you made it," Luke said, while he humored his family and smiled for pictures. "It really shows you that if you strive for it, put your all into it, you can achieve your goals."

The 17-year-old, one of the 166 seniors to accept a diploma as part of the high school's 127th graduating class, said he plans to attend Penn State in the fall and major in mechanical engineering.

But even through the excitement of discussing his future plans, the cum laude graduate was a little nostalgic.

"We had so many great memories here," Gockowski said. "Your classmates become your family, and they help shape you, and you take that with you."

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Fairfield graduates Cameron Howe and Tyler VanMetre, right, fist-bump before the start of Fairfield High School's Class of 2013's commencement ceremony on June 7 as fellow graduates Jared Slaybaugh, right and Brandon Keeney, left, look on. (THE EVENING SUN/SHANE DUNLAP)

Indeed, the time senior Sarah Jean Petrosky spent at Fairfield Area High School helped shape her into the studious and dedicated young adult her teachers said they will always remember.

During the last four years, Petrosky ran on the school's track team and sang in the student choir. At the June 7 ceremony, the senior sang a rendition of "Dancing Away with My Heart" before delivering her salutatorian address to more than 100 of her fellow Fairfield Area High School graduates.

She drew laughter from the friends and family in the crowd as she reflected on shared experiences between members of the class of 2013: their fourth-grade musical; their sixth-grade camp; their senior projects.

But with all the memories, she reminded her classmates they are in charge of their future.

"We cannot choose where we come from, only where we go from here," she said, quoting Stephen Chbosky, her favorite writer and author of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."

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Like other districts, some Spring Grove Area High School grads said they are excited to continue their education in the coming years.

"College, college, college! I can't wait to go to college," Rebecca Miller said of her plans for the future. She is headed to Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., in the fall for biology and pre-veterinary studies.

At the May 31 ceremony, Principal Rosemary Cugliari announced 81 percent of the class of 2013 plan to pursue higher education, the largest percentage of any Spring Grove graduating class.

School officials also announced $103,519 in scholarships were awarded to 74 students in May during the annual scholarship foundation banquet.

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Though many seniors said they were ready to call themselves high-school graduates, their parents did not necessarily share their students' eager enthusiasm for the term.

Before the Biglerville High School ceremony started, some parents said they were in denial that the day of their students' graduation had finally arrived.

Father of graduate Cole Herzing said the milestone didn't hit him until he was sitting in the school's auditorium June 5 waiting for the commencement ceremony to start.

"One day you're putting Band-Aid's on his knee and the next he's graduating and going to college," Mark Herzing said. "How can you have kids and not miss them when they're gone?"

Some of the 126 Upper Adams School District's graduating students showed their parents their appreciation through the school's newest commencement tradition - bestowing their golden graduation stole to the individual most responsible for helping them graduate.

Though some draped their stoles over the shoulders of friends or teachers, many decided to give the honor to a parent. However, graduate Gina Aguirre gifted her stole to both her mother and her father, who stood side by side after the ceremony so they might wear it together.

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Some parents walked into their student's 2013 commencement ceremony knowing it would be the last high school graduation they'd attend for their own children.

South Western mother Regina Biddle stood outside the gymnasium June 7, preparing herself to watch her third and youngest child graduate from high school.

Cheering as her oldest son Josh accepted his diploma several years ago was easy, she said, but last year was more difficult when her second son, Zach, donned his cap and gown. This year, the final high school graduation, will be the hardest, she said.

"It's sad," she said. "It's going to be very hard."

She is happy with the education her recent graduate, Jacob Biddle, received from South Western High School.

"They prepared him so well here," she said, adding the family moved to the area from Indiana when the now 18-year-old was in fifth grade.

And like his brother who accepted his diploma last year, the most-recent graduate plans to attend Penn State in the fall to study finance.

"He wants to work on Wall Street," she said, beaming with pride.

Though the ceremony marks the end of an era for the Biddle family, she knows it also signifies a commencement - the start of fresh, new experiences outside the locker-lined walls of high school.